Life's commas are just like the ones we got used to during those mundane classroom lessons. They are a time to pause, reflect, catch our breath then move on. They aren't the end.

Do you have many dreams you'd like to make come true? If there's so much you want to do but in reality, so little time to do it, the feeling of overwhelm itself can actually hold you back from accomplishing any of your major goals.

If you're like me, there's probably something in your life that you're deeply passionate about. You would love to build your life around this passion, your purpose, or your craft, but you "just can't."

While I truly believe that the choices we make and even the thoughts we think all matter greatly and affect the outcome of our existence, I also believe there is also another force at work and our role is actually more of a co-creator in our own lives.

Run this exercise through all the areas of your life: career, health and fitness, relationships, spirituality, family, and personal growth. As you do so, you'll start to find a pattern or theme that will lead you to a sense of your overall purpose.

Maybe not having a list of dreams makes me a cynic. Maybe saying I only ever wanted to be a mother and an author makes me simple. But maybe what it really means is that I know myself well and feel completely content with who I am, and where I am, today.

When I was in third grade, our class had a writing assignment called "When I am 30." It was an assignment meant to allow our carefree 9-year-old minds to be as imaginative as possible, creating one ideal scene after another of what our lives would be like in 20 years.

Discovering what it takes to lead a life that counts is something that has always fascinated me. Judging from the people I've met who live with a sense of regret and hopelessness, it's obvious that we often make mistakes in the pursuit of a meaningful life. But it doesn't have to be that way.

If you really want to figure out what it is you were born to do or be, don't go about it alone. I tell you this because this is/was key, key, key in my life experience.

My attitude in life is this: Everything is perfect as it is, and everything can be improved. Love is the power that makes things grow, mature, and become harmonious and beautiful. Here are four steps to use love in ways that improve your life.

When an organization (or an individual) makes a big, expensive and embarrassing mistake, it attracts loads of attention. But do you know what almost never attracts the attention it deserves? When things go the way they are supposed to.

We all have goals and we all have fears about achieving them, but it's how we handle those fears that determine whether or not -- and how quickly -- we get there.

Anyone can learn how to focus -- but only if we decide what is important to us and what we want to commit to accomplishing. The only wrong choice is no choice.

Being polite often means not communicating how we really feel. We swallow the truth to keep our jobs, our friends and to maintain the peace in the family. It's likely better that way, but when it comes to figuring out next career and life moves, half-truths will keep you stuck.

Because you're human, it's normal to formulate opinions based on information you've accumulated up until the present moment. It's natural and necessary in certain situations -- but not when it comes to your life and who you are.

Maybe, along with wanting to show up fully in life and see the beauty around us, we also want to be knocked over and swept away from time to time -- to fall in love with life and feel enchanted by what it has to offer.

Upon meeting someone new, part of me hopes I will never hear the dreaded four words (what-do-you-do) because then I wouldn't have to assess how I am going to respond -- with my pragmatic communications-consultant role, or with the idealistic wanting-to-save-the-world profile.

You always have a say in what happens in your life, but sometimes, it's better to move with the natural flow of things. Oftentimes, we create blocks that stop abundance, opportunity and growth from happening.

Being led by my one word makes me feel hopeful and free and allows me to drop the weight of life. My one word is a compass that allows my spirit to manifest into anything I want it to.

"Live from the inside out." That's my motto for 2013. I have put the kibosh on following social convention and fulfilling other's expectations. Living in a box of someone else's making leaves little room for sharing your gifts with the world.

The key is finding the joy in between the peaks -- paying attention to the moments, to the joy in the creating of your dreams, and to the pride you feel in yourself. Even if no one else ever acknowledges what you're doing, this is the true objective.

The world is neither fair nor unfair. Everybody is in pursuit of their happiness. It is your business to learn and pursue what is yours.